Toothpaste

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TOOTHPASTE - PAGE 5

Procter & Gamble, marketer of top-selling Crest toothpaste, for years has had that "gleam" in its eyes at the toothbrush market. In 1977, Procter unsuccessfully tried to buy the Reach toothbrush when Du Pont was unloading the brand. So, too, did Warner-Lambert, maker of Listerine. The winner in that "auction" was Johnson & Johnson, whose Reach brand now sells 20 percent of a $400 million-plus toothbrush market. But the folks at Procter can be very patient. This week, P&G is introducing to select markets in Texas a toothbrush called Crest Complete.

In the $3 billion-a-year oral-care category, mouthwash sales are down, but toothpastes with baking soda are doing a robust business. What does this mean at Procter & Gamble? A baking soda Scope, the third flavor to be introduced for this brand, which came out nearly three decades ago. Scope with baking soda apparently is the first nationally available mouthwash with that ingredient, but look for the me-tooers, perhaps including Warner-Lambert's Listerine, the category leader.

Charges filed in toothpaste case L.A. prosecutors have filed criminal charges against officials of two companies that allegedly imported and distributed more than 70,000 tubes of Chinese toothpaste containing a poisonous substance. The L.A. city attorney's office said Thursday that Vernon Sales and Selective Imports sold toothpaste containing diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze and as a solvent. Apple gives iPhone the business Apple wants the iPhone to become a corporate e-mail gadget -- and a portable game machine.

China said Friday that some health supplements and raisins imported from the U.S. failed to meet China's safety standards and have been returned or destroyed. In Washington, a top U.S. food safety official said the Food and Drug Administration was seeking more information from its Chinese counterparts, including whether they are "bona fide, science-based findings" or in retaliation for U.S. actions. U.S. inspectors recently have banned or turned away a growing number of Chinese exports, including fish and toothpaste.

Reader Nancy Holt Johnson was extremely clever in creating this Challenge: "With all those crazy people out there participating in extreme sports, some of us feel kind of left out. Aren't there extreme activities that ordinary people can do? For example, the chorus I belong to is practicing extreme humming. (You try humming loud enough to be heard over a soprano!) So maybe it'll never get its own TV show, but hey! I get to be extreme at least once in my life!" Follow her excellent lead, readers, and create your own extreme activity.

The head of a Long Island, N.Y., UFO club is accused of plotting to kill Republican officials by spreading radium on their car seats and in their toothpaste. John Ford, 47, a former court officer, was charged with conspiring to commit murder after police found in his home several lead canisters containing radium. Police also arrested Joseph Mazzachelli, 42, of Manorville, as an alleged accomplice. Radium is used to make watch dials glow in the dark and was used in the 1940s to treat cancer patients.

Spiders and monsters and dark, stormy nights can be scary, sure. But what really gets some people creeped out is...fear of bad breath. Now, a New York woman has sunk her teeth into that fear -- she has become a "personal breath consultant." For $125 the woman, Carol Meyer, offers a "breath makeover." She says she spends a lot of time working (at a distance?) with Wall Street stockbrokers, who are on the trading floor, "yelling and screaming all day long." Do you imagine Meyer telling someone to open wide, then taking a big whiff?

Boca Raton, Fla.--Tiny Minnetonka Inc. continues to play the role of David to Procter & Gamble's Goliath in the $1 billion-a-year dentifrice business. Minnetonka, which pioneered the pump-dispensed toothpaste business in this country with its Check-Up brand, is even going to steal some of Procter's strategic marketing thunder in a massive sampling program. Minnetonka is gearing up to distribute a 0.85 oz. sample of its Check-Up to 7 million U.S. households by midyear, sources at the Cosmetic, Toiletry & Fragrance Association (CTFN)

What is your No. 1 principle? Strive to have a bigger heart. Small hearts don't fill up or touch the corners of the world. What is your proudest moment? Finishing my first pathetic mile and a half around the park near my house in 6th grade. I felt and looked like I ran a marathon. What is something you wish you could learn? I want to know what my dogs are thinking. What is something scary you plan to do in life? Make wings, build a tree house 500 feet above ground and fly out of it What's your favorite toothpaste?

Mother necessitated Peter Badovinac's invention. The 11-year-old turned his mom's scolding about leaving the cap off the toothpaste into Wastenopaste, a device that recently won a regional award in a national competition for young inventors. James Kuo, 12, a classmate of Peter's at Jefferson Elementary School in Hoffman Estates, also won an award in the contest, for an "elliptical shovel" inspired by his father's love of gardening. More than 3,600 students from around the nation entered the Craftsman/National Science Teachers Association Young Inventors contest this year, according to Andy Ginger, vice president of brand management for Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s Craftsman tool line.